Anna Couani #77 iris

part of an iris appeared

then more

the third paper stencil was like lace

grey on white after the blue

as the stencil came off

I thought it would disintegrate

all those fine lines and pieces

but it held together

then I chucked it out

already assuming it would be useless

copying the teacher

but not myself as a teacher

when I used to fix student stencils

with a web of sticky tape

and preserve all their stencils

so they could keep them

so I threw it in the bin

feeling gestural

like the Japanese moku

technique or like

calligraphic brushwork

it took ages to cut

quite a while to print

I decided before taking it off

the screen

it would break and be useless

but it was strong and survived